Thursday, 27 February 2014

Updates

Ankle update - there is nothing more that can be done other than a quite dangerous operation which, if unsuccessful, will make matters much worse. Arthritis has set in and it looks as though I must grin and bear it the way things are. I am going to discuss matters with my G P but in the meantime I shall just soldier on.

Hen up date. The pen is in place, the pop hole is open but as yet no hens have been forthcoming. After all, as friend S, who also bought three, says - they have never seen the sky before so give them a chance to get used to the big wide world. They are eating their layers pellets and corn happily but looked with suspicion on a crust of wholewheat bread which the farmer gave them yesterday. The old hens would have fallen on it like marauding hordes, but these little dears have never seen such luxury before. What breed are they you ask. They are hybrid layers, that is all I can tell you - obviously from their colour there is some Rhode Island Red in there somewhere. In the past I have had Black Rocks, Buff Orpingtons, White Sussex - all have been pretty but none of them really good layers.

There seems to be sabre-rattling today between US and Russia over the small enclave on the edge of the Ukraine. Have you noticed how it is always the men (sorry male followers) who get in this state? The men get bullish, the women are left to pick up the pieces. It was ever thus.

15 comments:

When we buy in point of lay hens from where they are raised in large sheds they often take a couple of weeks to venture out. Some hybrid layers are called Lohmann Brown others are called Hyline and there are probably other names too.

I'm sad to hear of the ankle problems - hope they find some other solution so you have more comfort.

I, for one of many I'm sure, as sick of saber rattling - war is nothing more than a vehicle for men (corporations) to make money on the backs of dead young people. Greed kills, but not the rich men rattling the sabers.

Sorry to hear about the ankle and I hope your GP will suggest ways of making it less painful for you.Poor little hens - I'm sure they will soon adjust to their new surroundings.The world seems riddled with inhumanity and bloodshed. It amazes me that no-one, in this 'enlightened' age, has found a better solution to settling differences than to kill each other.

Getting old and arthritic is a pain but I hope you can still get on with life now you know that no more can be done. Here we call them Isla browns, one of mine must have been a throw back as she went broody and after I found some fertile eggs is now the proud mother of 2 chicks, no doubt they will be roosters but she loves them.

That is disappointing about your ankle. Especially for a country person who loves to walk. I do hope your GP can help with symptoms. Would acupuncture help? It was a an amazing help when I had a frozen shoulder some years ago.

I`m another one who despairs of a world where powerful men start sabre rattling and send innocent people on a collision course.

Oh, Botheration! It would have been so much simpler if some medical intervention could have improved things for you! I have a friend who had an ankle replacement, but it was never very satisfactory, and then she fell down a bank in her garden and made the whole thing a complete disaster. Hopefully your GP can at least offer you a form of pain relief that lets you stay actively mobile.

Those lucky little chicks will soon settle and enjoy the world as Nature intends.

Thanks for the commiserations about my ankle - I am going to discuss the whole thing with my G P. And yes I did badly injure my ankle some years ago - not a break but badly twisted.So at least for now I must endure it.Hens are venturing out a bit today - lovely sunshine and they seem quite bewildered.